Interview: Emmy Winner Joe Morton Reflects on Michael Brown and the Speech That Every Black Parent Gives Their Child

A day before the Emmy ceremony, we spoke about his role as the unscrupulous dad of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and the former head of covert government agency B613. He also had a chance to reflect on other noted roles over the years and share his perspectives on black culture on and off screen.

Just this weekend veteran TV, film and stage actor Joe
Morton was awarded a Primetime Emmy for his role as Rowan Pope on the hit ABC drama
"Scandal." A day before the ceremony, we spoke about his role on the
show as the unscrupulous dad of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and the former head of covert government
agency B613.

In the brief conversation, Morton also had a chance
to reflect on other noted roles over the years, answer some of your questions sent in via social media, and also share his perspectives on
black culture on and off screen.

JAI TIGGETT: Congratulations
on your Emmy nomination. We hear that you're the frontrunner.

JOE MORTON:
You've never heard me say that. You may have heard other people say that
[laughs]. It would be lovely, but who knows? The fellas I'm up against - Paul
Giamatti, Beau Bridges, Robert Morse, Dylan Baker and Reg E. Cathey – they're all
wonderful actors. There's just no way to predict, really.

JT: It's hard to
believe that this would be your first Emmy. At this point in your career, how seriously
do you take these kinds of accolades?

JM: It's exciting for the Emmys because you're voted in by
your peers, the community of actors that surround you. And also to
get the nomination for the Critic's Choice Award and the NAACP Award, it's been
very exciting this entire year. Any time you're a first-timer it's a wonderful
thing. It makes you little crazy, but I'm enjoying it.

JT: How does the pressure
of Emmy season compare to the pressure of preparing for the role itself?

JM: It certainly makes me want to work harder. Accolades
are there to congratulate you, but also to make you understand that it's not
over. You now have to continue trying to improve the craft and keep going. It's
not something to rest on.

JT: How much of a
challenge was it to take on the character of Rowan and to be such a
cunning villain?

JM: It was something I was actually looking forward to.
I've played good guys for most of my career, and when I came out to California
I thought, "I really would like to find some wonderfully intelligent bad
guy to play."

And no sooner than I put it out there, Rowan was being
offered. At first he was certainly dark and malevolent, but it wasn't until
season three where you actually began to hear some of the things that he had to
say, that things opened up. It wasn't so much a challenge as it was being invited to an incredibly delicious meal.

"The industry believes that the only thing they can sell is segregation and the victimization of black people. But I think because of television, maybe that might change."

JT: One thing to
appreciate about the show is its social commentary. One of the lines that everyone seems to remember is where Rowan tells Olivia, "You have to be twice as good as them to
get half of what they have." How did that hit you when you first read it in the script?

JM: I
thought of all the kinds of things that black parents tell their children. That's how it resonated with me when I first read it. It
was one of those things that I remember my mother and father telling me when I
was a kid. A lot of what Rowan says are the kinds of things that I grew up with
and I think that's what makes him different from the other characters on the
show. I don't know for sure, but I think he is a kind of channel for Shonda
[Rhimes] to be able to say certain things that no other character on the show
can say. JT: This idea of black parents having to give speeches to their children to prepare or
protect them from racial bias sounds a lot like some of the discussions
being had around the recent shooting of Michael Brown.

JM: I think the responsibility that any actor has is to
bring some truth to the work. In the case of Michael Brown, it's a horror that
some young unarmed kid on his way to college is shot down by a policeman. And
in Ferguson as in a lot of places in America, that's going to cause upheaval in
terms of whatever racial tensions have already existed.

The other side of that coin however, is this insane thing
that we seem to do as a culture, which is to destroy our own neighborhoods
because we're angry. And that is equally as horrible and untenable as the
shooting itself. Yes, the townspeople have a responsibility to make sure that
they find out the truth and get justice. But at the same time their
responsibility is also to make sure they don't destroy what belongs to them
because they're angry.

JT: People are being
victimized. It's happening in real life, we're seeing it in the news. But there
was an
article that you wrote late last year about trying to change the image of
black victimhood on screen. What do you feel the solution is?

JM: We have to present more stories that are not about
victims. Don Cheadle is doing a story about Miles Davis. I have an idea about
Eugene Jacques Bullard, who was the first black combat aviator, and flew for
France. So there are all these stories that present a different perspective on
our history. Unfortunately what's happened is that, from a commercial
standpoint the industry believes that the only thing they can sell is
segregation and the victimization of black people.

But I think because of television, maybe that might change.
Because you don't see as much of that on TV as you used to. When I started,
black people were either victims or they were the perpetrators; they were the
boogie men who jumped out of the bushes and did terrible things to you. So many
of those things on television have changed. Not that we shouldn't see our
history in terms of slavery. Just like the Jews in this country who don't want
anyone to forget what happened in the Holocaust, I think we should never allow
the country to forget what happened over 400 years of slavery. But at the same
time, that's not our only legacy and we should be aware of that.